Eliminating the Porcupine Look

Cellular...PCM...GSM...GPS...With the
proliferation of services used for mobile communications, many cars begin
to suffer from the "porcupine effect," as new antennas are added
for each new application. Consumers find the presence of all these antennas
unsightly, and governmental users, such as law enforcement agencies, often
want to conceal their antennas to avoid detection.

The Department's Antenna Laboratory, directed by Professor
Warren Stutzman, has been working with Astron Corporation, Sterling,
Virginia, to develop antennas that can be concealed within or on the body
of a car. New antenna designs are fabricated and mounted to the car model.
Then the antenna performance is measured using the rooftop antenna range
at the top of Whittemore Hall. The use of a scaled car model permits quick,
economical testing of design concepts before proceeding to expensive full
scale testing.

Right, Mike Barts (G) adjusts the model at the range. The antenna is
behind the side-view mirrors.

The Bradley Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Virginia Tech

Last Updated, April 29, 1998Questions or comments about the content: eqb@rightwordonline.comTechnical questions or comments: webmaster@birch.ee.vt.eduhttp://www.ece.vt.edu/ecenews/march98/antenna.html